An excerpt from the novel appeared in short story form as "Still Life" in the April 9, 2007, issue of The New Yorker magazine.

Falling Man concerns a survivor of the 9/11 attacks and the effect his experiences on that day have on his life thereafter.

Like DeLillo's previous works, the novel is thematically concerned with the symbolic nature of terrorist violence portrayed through the mass media.

[4] Michiko Kakutani writing for The New York Times considered it a disappointment, saying that although "flashes of Mr. DeLillo’s extraordinary gifts for language can be found in his depiction of the surreal events Keith witnessed on 9/11 ... the remainder of the novel feels tired and brittle.

"[2] World Socialist Web Site critic Sandy English concluded that parts of the novel were "moving, and one can learn something about the reactions of a particular social layer in New York at the time," but as a whole it "does not succeed as a unified work of art.